Aortic heart valve replacement may be necessary to treat valve regurgitation or stenotic calcification of the leaflets. In percutaneous transluminal delivery techniques, a prosthetic aortic valve is compressed for delivery in a catheter and advanced through the descending aorta to the heart, where the prosthetic valve is deployed in the aortic valve annulus. New-onset cardiac conduction disturbances are common after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). The most common complication is left bundle branch block (LBBB).
U.S. Pat. No. 7,914,569 to Nguyen et al., which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a heart valve prosthesis having a self-expanding multi-level frame that supports a valve body comprising a skirt and plurality of coapting leaflets. The frame transitions between a contracted delivery configuration that enables percutaneous transluminal delivery, and an expanded deployed configuration having an asymmetric hourglass shape. The valve body skirt and leaflets are constructed so that the center of coaptation may be selected to reduce horizontal forces applied to the commissures of the valve, and to efficiently distribute and transmit forces along the leaflets and to the frame. Alternatively, the valve body may be used as a surgically implantable replacement valve prosthesis.